Friday, December 26, 2008

Making Things Look Like Becky's Work [aka AWESOME!]


Finishing...

It is so hard to finish any of my work! I get really frustrated that I take a lot of time purchasing, planning and knitting beautiful patterns but when it comes to finishing anything, geeze do I stink! A few months ago I made a beautiful bolero to wear at my cousin's wedding. However, the DAY of the wedding...IT FELL APART!:( I wish I had a few tips from experts on creating clean edges to give hand-made garments a nice finished look.
The image abore are fingerless mittens that I am making for my friend Julie. According to her boyfriend, she loves red b/c it is the "colar of passion," It took me some time to make these beautiful mittens, but finishing them is a nightmare. Little pieces of yarn stick out of the edges of the top of the mitens and the top of the thumbs. I also get a big bump at these locations too.
Last but not least, to the right is a baby hat I made for a co-worker. I still can't get
that finished look, but to be honest, it looks cleaner than the mittens that are photographed above. This time around I used a crochet hook instead of a needle. I used longer strand of yarn at the end and weaved it in quite detailed into several parts of the hat. I also used a crocheted edge around the brim of the hat.
I once met a lady who owned Bella Lana Yarns that when you sew up edges you need a loose edge, such as a slipped stitch edge. When I make my next sweater I am going to slip a stitch before I knit (or purl) the row...and slip one at the end of the row before I turn around and start over again. I am hoping that this new technique will make my edges look smoother. :)
Happy Knitting!:)







1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Slipping a stitch at the begining of every row is a great way to create a "selvage stitch" for sewing up garments. I learned about them when I was making my green sweater. Remember to cast on two extra stitches than what the pattern calls for and only slip at the beginning of the row. That way the stitch only covers the row it was knit and the row above, and it will be eaiser to see... if you slip at the end as well, you will have your outside cast on stitches moving up the entire garment... and stitches don't stretch that far!